ATLANTA – Southern Company announced today that it has signed two long-term wholesale power agreements with Progress Energy Florida. Under the agreements, Southern Company will provide a total of 424 megawatts of electric capacity and energy to Progress Energy Florida. Power to supply the contracts will be generated from Southern Company’s existing wholesale plant capacity.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to continue to serve a portion of the growing energy needs of Progress Energy Florida, a valued, long-term customer,” said Ronnie Bates, executive vice president, Competitive Generation for Southern Company Generation, the business unit of Southern Company that oversees both retail and wholesale generation and generation services. “Our continued success in Florida indicates that we are staying on track with our strategy of growing our wholesale power business in the ‘Super Southeast’ region.”

Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., is a Fortune 250 diversified energy company with more than 24,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9 billion in annual revenues. The company`s holdings include two electric utilities serving approximately 2.9 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. Progress Energy also includes nonregulated operations covering generation, energy marketing, natural gas production, fuel extraction and broadband capacity. For more information about Progress Energy, visit the company’s Web site at www.progress-energy.com. With more than 4 million customers and nearly 39,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is the premier super-regional energy company in the Southeast and a leading U.S. producer of electricity. Southern Company owns electric utilities in four states, a growing competitive generation company and a competitive retail natural gas business, as well as fiber optics and wireless communications.

Southern Company brands are known for excellent customer service, high reliability and retail electric prices that are 15 percent below the national average. Southern Company has been ranked the nation’s top energy utility in the American Customer Satisfaction Index five years in a row. Southern Company has more than 500,000 shareholders, making its common stock one of the most widely held in the United States. Visit the Southern Company Web site at www.southerncompany.com.